Disclaimer: One piece is sadly not mine...
"So, what information did you get from the marine base?" Luffy asked in a stern voice, still sitting at the front of the ship, looking at the horizon.
"We got information on the current strongest crew in the east and a some info on the current situation of the grand line. Captain, the biggest threat in east blue is Arlong, next is Don Krieg. The second one is trying to get to the grand line I think, but wont before at least a few weeks. They are sending a vice admiral here to make the tour of the bases and see if everything is clear, Garp the fist I heard." Kuina said on the same tone, as if reporting the information on a serious order. The rest of the crew frowned, none of them had talked to Luffy like that except maybe on the battlefield, but certainly not in such a situation.
"Good. About the grand line?"
"Everything is really calm. Usually, there would be some movement from the big shots, but they are all in HQ. They sent Vice Admirals to the four blues, The ones higher in ranks aren't on the sea's, they seem stationed in their base, I bet they are plotting or waiting. Aside from that, The 7 Warlords aren't making much noise."
"Can you list them for me?"
"Crocodile, Boa Hancock, Jinbe, Bartholomew Kuma, Dracule Mihawk, Gekko Moria and Trafalgar Law."
"Torao? Law is a Warlord?"
"He has been for a little over a year ago. Is it someone you happen to know?"
Zoro smirked. "Don't start being surprised now by Luffy's acquaintances, you will die of shock before we reach the grand line." Kuina smiled back.
"I believe I can't really be more surprised than I was when I saw you became a powerful and impressive swordsman overnight." The boat went silent.
"Trust us, you can." Was the only reply that came from the navigator and swordsman while the captain turned around to face his crew with a smile.
"I feel we are approaching Usopp's island! His aura is much more impressive than last time we came!"
When they docked, a muscular man in a dark green baggy overall with a blue and white stripped armband and wore a olive bandanna over his black curly hair was sitting on the side of a cliff, wearing the biggest smirk.
"Hey, you can't come to this island you pirates! If you come any closer, I, with the power of all the people who sees me as a god, will make you leave!"
"You became a terrible liar Usopp, those things are actually possible! You can back up your threats now!" Luffy said cheerfully before he jumped of the boat.
"Some people consider him a god? Really?" Kuina asked, skeptical.
"You don't really want to know." Nami and Zoro deadpanned while Usopp and Luffy were laughing together.
"So, I don't feel Kuro is on the island, did you take care of it already? Can't see why you wouldn't have." Luffy started thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I took care of him, but I didn't turn him over to the marines." Zoro frowned.
"Why not? It's always good to have a little money so you wont get indebted by that witch." Nami turned to give him a murderous glare.
"Well, they would have start questioning how I knew it was him and with the new system, they would've added security around the island, more marines stationed close to here didn't sound right by me."
"What new system?" Luffy asked. He had never really taken the time to see the differences between the old and new timeline until he set sail, so his knowledge on it was low. Maybe Ace or Sabo had talked of some in one of their conversations on the snail phone, but never in full details and the raven pirate king never really cared actually. It could only make his adventure more interesting.
"Well, the events around Doflamingo and Dressrosa changed a lot of things." Nami started, "A certain marine had been investigating on Doflamingo undercover. After they arrested him and saw the plans the man had for Dressrosa, the marines started a program where any sighting or report of pirates terrorizing or planning to do something wrong on an island would result in having some marines coming over and every few years, a higher up from headquarters will do a check up tour of the four blues. This year, Garp was assigned the tour of east blue, which mean we will have an earlier family reunion."
"Garp, as in the marine hero? A relative of-" Kuina started with a questioning gaze.
"Luffy, his grandfather. It's not that big of a deal... I mean, my dad is on a Yonko's crew. Even then, I am the great Usopp-sama, best-"
"So we were saying?" Nami cut in before the long nosed sharpshooter would actually start being annoying. Though she would never admit it, over the years, she had kind of missed the random tales from the crew's liar. She had actually missed all of her crew's quirks, but she still missed her captain's smile. Not his present fake grin he would wear all the time, his sincere ear-to-ear smile.
"We should go eat, I'm starving!" The straw-hatted captain said with his usual grin, cutting the navigator's thoughts.
The crew had moved their reunion to a nearby restaurant. However, even if his crew mates were happily catching up and drunkenly tried to explain everything to Kuina about the second life, which she almost understood to a certain point, but Luffy was distant and left. Picking up on that, Zoro excused himself and followed after his captain.
Usopp,
"I'm leaving the crew."
We were such good friends,
Was that all your most well crafted lie?
"Are you okay Luffy?" The first mate said as he approached him, who was sitting on the side of a cliff looking at the ocean.
"Yes. It's just overwhelming. Everything is going well... You even got yourself a girlfriend! Shishishishi..." Zoro looked away.
"You know, I can see you are trying to make this about me just to avoid talking about what's going on, but I will still humor you if you don't feel like talking about it at the moment." Luffy smiled.
"Can't lie or hide anything from you can I?"
"Appearently, this is not part of your impressively large range of abilities."
"Oh well..."
They stood in silence for a few more minutes before they returned to the others, who where heading to the mansion with three kids behind them.
"Since the island wont get attacked, we can set sail for the baratie tomorrow morning!" Usopp said proudly.
"Good. Since we are leaving earlier than last time, we should have extra time to eat at the baratie before the Krieg incident." Luffy said in a serious voice, only thinking about the extra meals he could get at the Baratie.
"Could someone enlighten me on some details? All I really understood from the situation we are in is that somehow, the captain and you guys know some things will happen before they do and you all became really strong overnight about 10 years ago." Kuina had followed the bunch without any questions as for now, but she was kind of tired of being the only one in the dark.
"I made me and my friends go back in time because I couldn't accept they died. Now lets go see Usopp's girlfriend!" All of the the veteran straw-hats bit their lips, in a guilty fashion before analyzing the second part of Luffy's declaration. Usopp blushed a little.
"How did you know?" All eyes turned to the curly haired teen.
"What? She's really your girlfriend?" Nami asked while Luffy just started to laugh.
"Well, I think it was pretty obvious, since you told me once you wanted to ask her to get married!" Usopp smiled. "Yeah... I thought we could bring her along... She knows the basics of observation haki for self defense, but even though she isn't much of a fighter, she has better use in the medical field. She always wanted to be a nurse or a doctor, she could learn from the best on our ship! And I thought, since Zoro brought his girlfriend to, I thought you guys wouldn't mind..."
At this Kuina looked away and Zoro sent death glares to the sharpshooter, who almost shit his pants.
"That's great! Hey, Kuina, you mentioned Zoro is teaching you haki?"
"Yeah..."
"That's great, it is going to be useful in the New World mostly, Paradise doesn't have a lot of Logias and I am usually the one who fights those who are there anyway, but we never know."
When they reached the mansion, a blond girl jumped out of a tree where she was reading. She was wearing brown long boots and a blue skirt topped with a white tank top and a light brown jacket. Her skin was lightly tanned and her shoulder length blond hair were tied in a ponytail. Her muscles weren't that much more developed than the first time they saw her and she smiled brightly as she came to hug and kiss Usopp upon first seeing him before she noticed the rest of the group.
"Hey! You must be Usopp's crew right? Usopp said he was the sniper of the straw-hat pirates and talked a lot about your adventures together! I'm so happy to finally meet you all!"
"You should all come inside and sleep before we set sail tomorrow. Get to the rooms and get some rest." Kaya said gently.
Merry, the butler, made them all come inside as they introduced themselves to each other. After they slept in the mansion they all went to the shore to gather their belongings. They would move everything into their first ship and they were all, the veterans even more than the others, Pretty excited to see their long lost friend.
Nami and Usopp were crying when they first saw it. Even Zoro couldn't help and had let escape a small tear from his eye, gaining a cute chuckle from the girl who was standing beside him. Luffy simply glared in amazement, absorbing every details from the caravel.
"I really thought your- our captain was crazy at first, but I don't know why, I'm starting to believe the whole time traveling ordeal." Kuina's smile dropped as she continued addressing the green-haired swordsman who had discretely washed off his small drop at the corner of his eye. "He said he couldn't accept that you all died. Should I worry about him like you do? Or is it your duty as the first mate and none of my business?"
Zoro looked at the ocean, leaning on the railing. "He seems carefree and cheerful. I think he does so for us to not worry about him. He hates when we worry about him, he thinks it should only be the only way around. You shouldn't worry, I know him better than I know anyone. I got his back. Just keep in mind that he already carries a heavy burden."
Kuina smiled. "At least he has a reliable crew to help him carry it..." They looked up at their captain who was shouting orders to prepare and set sail. Before, it had always had been Nami who would carry those kind of command, but the pirate king had taken yet another of those responsibilities over the years, especially when he was forced to do so after their deaths.
When they heard their names in the shouts followed by direct orders, they stood and went to their task. After a few minutes, Luffy had made his way to the front of the ship, standing on the figurehead with a large grin, black and gold captain coat with the straw hats mark on the back sitting on his shoulders, black dress pants and red dress shirt and black loosened tie. All topped with the straw hat who surprisingly didn't clash with the fancy looking attire. He was kind of overdressed for East blue if you asked, but this was a special occasion. The Going Merry was back on the seas.
"To the baratie!" He turned to face his crew who were or having a wild smile or simply being impressed at Luffy's charismatic form. Yes, When Luffy had started to wear the red or black captain coat they had suddenly started to be impressed by his mere presence, but now, even as a 17 year old, he hadn't lost any of the wow factor.
"Hey I'm done hanging the Jolly Roger!" Usopp yelled from the top of the mast. He respected Luffy more than ever now and had made the straw hat Jolly Roger right away. Since he had left and rejoined the crew at Water 7, Usopp had respected his captain truly and had let go of his childish bickering and trying to be captain. He had matured and it showed even more at the amazement he had toward the pirate king.
So there wasn't much action in this chapter but their will be in the next one, I promise.
I started writing another fanfiction called headache. I have read a lot of fics where the ASL trio are test subjects when they were kids making them wary of others or just totally badass, but I never found one where the story of what happens in the facility is the main story. I already posted the first chapter if you want to check it out. The story is set in a modern AU, which mean I will not follow the canon story-line. At all.
Back to the freest man in the world, this was the fifth chapter and I hope you enjoyed it.
Next chapter will be the Baratie Arc.